Barbell deadlift
Lift a loaded bar from the floor to standing. The simplest description of strength there is.
The movement
Setup
01 Setup
Bar over mid-foot, hips between knees and shoulders, back flat.
02 Lockout
Stand tall with hips and knees locked; no lean-back.
How to do it
Setup
- Stand with the bar over the middle of your feet, shins about an inch away from it.
- Push your hips back and grip just outside your legs, then bend your knees until your shins touch the bar.
- Flatten your back, pull gently on the bar until it stops rattling, and tighten your lats.
Execution
- Push the floor away, with your hips and chest rising at the same rate.
- Keep the bar against your legs all the way up to a tall, locked standing finish.
- Return it by pushing your hips back first, bending your knees once the bar passes them.
BreathingTake a big breath and brace at the bottom, and never trade the brace for an extra rep.
Form cues
- Lats tight, and the bar touching your legs from the floor upward.
- Pull the slack out of the bar before you lift.
- Finish standing tall; the lockout is the rep.
Common mistakes
- Yanking the bar off the floor and rounding your back into it.
- Hips rising early, which leaves your back to do everything.
- Leaning back at the top. Standing upright is the finish.
Worth knowing
- The deadlift rewards patience more than any other lift: leave a rep or two spare on every set, and treat any set where your back rounds as over.
- Reset your position for each rep while learning, because continuous reps hide small drifts in form.
General guidance, not medical advice. See how Setkit works.
Notes
The deadlift is a heavy bar on the floor and your decision to stand up with it. As a strength builder it works nearly everything from your grip to your upper back, and progress on it is the least ambiguous number in training.
It also has the strictest technique requirements of anything in this library. The setup is half the lift. Bar over the middle of the foot, shins to the bar, back flat, slack pulled out, and that standard does not bend for a heavier weight. The best deadlifters in the world set up for a light warm-up exactly the way they set up for their heaviest pull. Copy that from day one.
Program it knowing what it costs. Heavy pulls take more out of your recovery than the few seconds they last would suggest. A few good sets go a long way, and alternating heavy deadlift days with lighter Romanian deadlift work keeps the pattern strong without wearing you down.